MOOD

The 404 1,229: Where we stop and smell the ads (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Ad creep creeps are getting creepier -- a couple of the strangest ad-placements ever.

- You know Best Buy is doing poorly when a positive customer review is news.

- How manufactured smells are making people shop longer and kill better.

- Jack from our 404 Subreddit created an RSS feed of every 404 episode. Thanks dude!… Read more

Can a smartphone sense depression?

New smartphone technology is in the works that should be able to tell whether a person is depressed.

The idea behind Mobilyze--under development by researchers at Northwestern University--is to create a virtual therapist to monitor a person's activity over several days and then make a mood assessment.

"We're trying to develop individual algorithms for each user that can determine specific states," lead researcher and psychologist David Mohr said in an interview on WBBM radio in Chicago.

These algorithms would include people's location, activity, social context, what they're doing, and their mood, in order … Read more

Mood-lifting bright light improves...reaction time?

It's often the case that a device or substance with a known benefit also comes with known risks--typically referred to as side effects and listed quickly at the ends of commercials. So it seems worth noting when a product's side effect may in fact be useful.

The Valkee, a portable headset launched in August of 2010, directs 8- to 12-minute doses of bright light through the ear canal and into the brain to improve seasonal affective disorder. It turns out that this concentration of bright light into the brain may also improve motoric reaction time, according to a study conducted by Verve Research in Finland.

The placebo-controlled study (meaning some were given the treatment and others a placebo in its place) tested the effects of the Valkee headset on Finnish national league ice hockey players and found that those exposed to 12 minutes of light via the headset sped up their already fast reaction times by 20 percent.

"The placebo-controlled study showed a significant improvement in motoric reaction times of top athletes using bright light via the ear canal," says lead researcher Mikko Tulppo in a news release.… Read more

Millions of tweets reveal global mood trends

It may not be terribly surprising that many of us find our moods dipping over the course of the day, and that by nightfall we light up again. Or that our moods are perkiest on weekends, regardless of which days our weekends fall on (i.e., Fridays and Saturdays in the United Arab Emirates).

What's of note, according to an analysis of 2.4 million tweets in 84 countries by researchers out of Cornell, is that these mood trends hold steady across cultures and borders, hinting at some sort of deeper trend whose basis is in being human, not … Read more

Researchers work to develop prescription playlists

Prescription playlists may sound a bit out there, but even without all the findings in recent years that music can be good for the heart, the brain, and even the immune system, it should come as little surprise that it also affects mood.

Exactly how it does so is where things start to get interesting.

"The impact of a piece of music on a person goes so much further than thinking that a fast tempo can lift a mood and a slow one can bring it down," says audio engineering specialist Don Knox, who is leading a team … Read more

Sit your 'tude in the Mood Chair

With the IKEA aesthetic taking over so many homes, you might be yearning for furniture that reflects your mood. Literally. The interactive Mood Chair by U.K. designers Aether & Hemera "changes color in response to the colors that its sensors perceive from the environment and the users."

Is it accurate? We're not sure. But we give the artists props for reminding us of mood rings from our adolescent years.

Aether & Hemera play with LED lights, fiber optics, projections, and UV lamps, creating installations that explore light and its power to trigger a sense of identity … Read more

Moodspin's mood tracker comes to the iPhone

Moodspin, a very eccentric social-networking add-on service has just had its app (link opens in iTunes) approved on the App Store. In case you're unfamiliar with the site, it currently works only on Twitter, and lets you very quickly broadcast how you're feeling to the people who follow you.

But here's the catch: it's not just text, the service goes in and makes small changes to your profile icon, adding that same mood-related emoticon to your photo, which in turn lets others see what you're feeling no matter what you just tweeted.

Is this useful? … Read more

A planner and diary in one

At first glance, Smart Diary seems similar to many other planners, with various calendar views and the ability to set tasks. What really sets Smart Diary apart is its diary feature, which is unlike anything we've seen before in this sort of program.

The program's interface is attractive and intuitive, with a surprisingly sleek calendar design. It's easy to do all the basics, like adding events and tasks, scheduling reminders, printing schedules, and so on. Everything is neatly arranged with tabs and drop-down menus, allowing users to quickly find the functions they want. What really impressed us … Read more

MySpace bolsters status update features

Myspace on Wednesday is revising its status update tool, something the company estimates is used in excess of 15 million times a day by its members.

New to the feature is a way to sort people's updates by type. For instance, if you want to see only your friends who have listed their mood as "aggravated," you can do so. Likewise you'll soon be able to search for specific friends and see their latest status updates without having to visit their profile pages. This comes with other granular filters that let you see just the friends … Read more